A Year of Reading: a new library
In Dr Kornel Kossuth’s ninth post for us as he continues on in his challenge to promote reading for pleasure during the school day, he discusses the impact of the school library and how you can help make it a place pupils will want to explore.
A new term has started and finally we have our brand new library.
Expectation had been building as renovation work was carried out in the rooms, which used to be two classrooms, and the rooms were out of bounds to pupils (nothing like forbidding something to get people interested!). Then furniture arrived and carboard box after cardboard box of books. Our new librarian started to fill the shelves and make sure the computer programme was working as it should (spoiler alert: of course it wasn’t). But still, it remained closed till everything was as perfect as it can be.
We then had Clare Balding come in to open the library. Making it a special occasion with an outside speaker, and then such a great and motivational one, certainly drives home the message that the library is a special place to be treasured.
But where to go from there? How to keep it special?
In the past the library was very much a self-help affair; pupils just came and took books, rarely returning them, and a long procession of librarians were left tearing out their hair. We did not want a repeat of that. Quite on the contrary, we decided to foster good library habits ab ovo. So, as an English department, we decided to dedicate one lesson a week to going to the library to look at books, to read, to talk about reading, to soak up the atmosphere, to chat to the librarian.
This will hopefully place the library firmly in the minds of the pupils as a place central to the school for learning, for knowledge and for quiet. It should also lead to good library practice and respect for books. Pupils will be able to recommend books to one another, take a lucky dip for their next read or ask the librarian for advice. The more they care and see the library as a space for them, the more likely they are to treat it well.
The next challenge is to get the rest of the staff on board and to have them suggest books or to get them using the reference section with their classes. Personally, I have already taken out three books to use in lessons (rather than bringing in my own) and each time the software wanted to prevent me taking the books out as it thought I was too young! So, yes, the software still needs some tweaking and some of the books aren’t in the right place, but it’s a good start, a very good start.
Kornel Kossuth has loved English since a young age and began teaching it to children ten years ago. Before turning to teaching, he was a lawyer and (briefly) a diplomat. A published poet, poetry busker and poetry blogger, he is also the author of a number of English resources and is currently working on textbooks for years 7 and 8.
